WEST COVINA – The future could be bright – at least for cities and businesses locally and across the country vying for billions in federal stimulus money to upgrade aging and costly street light bulbs.

Within the $787-billion stimulus package Congress approved last month, $50 billion is available for energy programs. Cities are seeking billions in the package’s energy efficiency and clean energy funds to revamp everything from street lights to restoring historic districts.

They want to use some of that money to replace so-called high-pressure sodium bulbs, with longer-lasting, more energy efficient street lighting systems called light-emitting diode bulbs.

These are projects that are “shovel-ready” and can get people working, officials said.

Pasadena and Alhambra are among San Gabriel Valley with projects on the wish list. In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last month announced a plan to replace 140,00 street lights with LED units that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually.

“It’s to lay the foundation through this special economic recovery effort for energy efficiency and other efficiencies of the kind we are challenged to address at this point in history … water conservation…renewable energy, sustainable building designs,” said Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogart.

When the U.S. Conference of Mayors submitted its list of “ready-to-go” projects that could benefit from the package, Pasadena chimed in with a bevy of them related to neighborhood lighting systems.

They include requests for $86,000 to install LED lighting on Daisy Street from Villa Street to Del Vina Street. Another project seeks $147,000 for installation of residential street lighting on Del Rey Avenue, from Woodlyn Road to Washington Boulevard. All told, Pasadena’s requests add up to about $528,000.

Alhambra sought $700,000 for a project south of Valley Boulevard and west New Avenue.

Other cities are eyeing the package, with hopes of getting a piece of the stimulus pie for similar projects.

Though systems can be expensive up front, the upshot is the creation of jobs, lower long-term costs and furthering cities’ “green” goals, officials said.

“In West Covina, for the residents and taxpayers, who pay a million a year in street lighting bills, if those could be reduced in half its a win-win for everybody,” said Shannon Yauchzee, Public Works director for West Covina.

His city is monitoring the Department of Energy for possible funding for energy efficient and solar projects.

“I don’t believe all those details are out yet,” he said, adding that Southern California Edison owns much of the lighting in his city.

Southern California Edison officials could not be reached for comment.

But if cities and agencies are interested in buying more efficient municipal lighting, businesses are ready to sell it.

“LED technology has reached a point where it’s viable for mainstream applications like street lighting,” said Kevin Orth, director of sales at Wisconsin-based BetaLED, which specializes in LED lighting.

The market for LED lighting is growing, according to BetaLED. One percent of all the electricity sold by investor-owned utilities in the country is used on street lights, they said. The bulbs use between 40 and 60 percent less energy and last about four times longer than the traditional high-pressure sodium lamps.

Though LED technology has been around for several years – powering the lighting for watches, cell phones and televisions – the municipal LED-lighting market is fairly new.

BetaLED is a nearly 30-year-old company. But the push toward green technology prompted company officials to invest more heavily in the emerging technology.

Now it’s cheap enough for cities to afford for larger projects.

“I expect the next couple of years we’re going to see all kinds of LED solutions that come much closer to what we expect in terms of human needs…,” said Konstantinos Papamichael, associate director of the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis.

But as the market evolves, it means cities will have to be scrupulous with any stimulus money they pay out to contractors, Bogart said.

“No question that green technology and products are going to be big in the future,” he said. “Customers like Pasadena and other cities are going to have to be astute to make good choices in regard to the products selected and the companies dealt with.”

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